The Penn State Scandal Is for Law Enforcement, Not the N.C.A.A.

Gary R. Roberts is the dean and a professor at the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law in Indianapolis.

July 16, 2012

The N.C.A.A. is a nonprofit, member organization that exists to regulate intercollegiate athletic competition and facilitate that competition. It is not, and should not become, an organization that exists to enforce legal or moral standards.

The behavior of Jerry Sandusky at Penn State was about as despicable as any that one can imagine, and to the extent there is compelling evidence that officials at Penn State knew about his behavior and intentionally covered it up (for whatever reasons), the full force of the civil and criminal justice systems should come down on them. Likewise, if the Pennsylvania Legislature or the trustees of Penn State believe that in order for their university to function in an ethical and moral manner in the future, the football program needs to be shut down or limited, that would be entirely appropriate.

Severe actions may be in order: criminal charges, lawsuits, consequences from the state or the trustees. But none of that involves the N.C.A.A.

But for an external organization like the N.C.A.A., which is supposed to ensure fair and ethical athletic competition, to step in and impose sanctions against a program for the criminal conduct of people employed by the university — when that conduct had no effect on athletic competition — would be a dangerous and unwarranted arrogation of power by an entity that already has enormous power over colleges and universities.

The culprits in this horrible episode will undoubtedly pay a high price for their reprehensible conduct, and Penn State itself will also suffer from the fallout. But for the N.C.A.A. to shut down the football program would not add to the punishment of the guilty. It would punish a hundred student athletes, thousands of people whose livelihoods depend on the program, tens of thousands of Penn State alumni and followers, and an entire community of innocent people.

The N.C.A.A. should not inflict punishment on these innocent people any more than the National Academy of Sciences should expel all Penn State scientists, or the federal government should cancel all grants to Penn State researchers. Every organization must stay true to its mission, and the mission of the N.C.A.A. is not to enforce the nation’s criminal laws.